Description
<p>
A superb Japanese species, often equated with A.sikokianum in nursery lists, but in truth, you would be very hard pushed to ever confuse them as they are different in “flower”, colouring, leaves, vigour and appearance!
As late as May, the non-offsetting tuber makes a greenish or red-stained, 30cm tall stem with a pair of opposite, deep green leaves, each subdivided into 5 leaflets. The foliage emerges with the flower spathe which is a deep, polished, purple-brown with a broad hooded spathe that bends in a smooth curve over the spadix tucked away inside. (it furls back in sikokianum). The tip of the spathe is elongated and hangs down over the mouth.
In contrast the spadix is white and polished, but although sometimes swollen towards the tip, it does not have the pestle-shape of sikokianum and is narrower.
Humus-rich soil with good drainage in half-shade is perfection. the Kirishima, Kagoshima, Kyushu, Japan this is a Japanese endemic species, it is not found in China.
